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linux-unix130.linux.and.unix.ebooks130 linux and unix ebookslinuxLearning Linux - Collection of 12 E

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<A NAME="Heading20<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>CAUTION: </B></FONT>During testing

	with Linux, I have found that mixing two different types of SIMMs (70ns and 100ns)

	caused the PC to behave very strangely, with crashes during the installation process.

	The solution was to use the same speed memory. These SIMMs were the 9-, not the 3-,

	chip version. Generally speaking, it's never a good idea to mix RAM chips of different

	speeds on a single motherboard.

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<P>You need a Hercules, CGA, EGA, VGA, or Super VGA video card and monitor. In general,

if your video card and monitor work under MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows, Linux should

be able to use them without any problem. If you're going to use the X Window System,

however, certain hardware configurations are not yet supported. The list of such

requirements can be found in the <TT>/docs/XFree86-HOWTO</TT> file on the CD-ROM.

<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading21<FONT COLOR="#000077">Other Hardware Requirements</FONT></H4>

<P>Linux also runs on various laptop machines. (Some laptops use certain software

interrupts to power the memory, and Linux doesn't work well with these systems to

date.) The best way to find out whether Linux will run on your hardware is to just

try it. You can find a home page dedicated to this endeavor at

<PRE><FONT COLOR="#0066FF">http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/

</FONT></PRE>

<P>Other hardware drivers currently are under development for Linux. To use these

drivers, however, you usually have to patch them into your kernel code, which assumes

that you already have a running Linux system. A kind of chicken-and-egg problem if

you haven't already installed Linux, isn't it? In such cases, you can install whatever

Linux you happen to have, and then apply the patches with the Linux <TT>patch</TT>

command.</P>

<P>The issue of tape drives for Linux also needs to be considered. There is a working

QIC-02 device driver for Linux, supporting Everex/Wangtek cards. There are additional

patches for the QIC-02 to support Archive SC402/499R. You can find them in the <TT>/pub/linux/alpha/qic-02</TT>

directory at the <TT>tsx-11.mit.edu</TT> FTP server. (Reports have been made of some

bugs in the driver, but you can back up and restore.) In general, if a tape drive

works under Windows or MS-DOS given a QC-102 specification, it will work with Linux.</P>

<P>Most of the newer tape drivers are for SCSI drives, so if you have a SCSI tape

drive, chances are good that it is supported.

<H4 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading22<FONT COLOR="#000077">Special Requirements

for X Window Systems</FONT></H4>

<P>Your 4MB of RAM will make X run very slowly. You should have at least 8MB of RAM

for running and compiling programs in X. You need another 6MB to 10MB of disk space

for the GCC compiler, in addition to the X Window System.</P>

<P>Another important point with running X is the support for both color and monochrome

Hercules and VGA cards. Most chip sets, such as et3000, et4000, GVGA, PVGA1, WD890c00,

TRIDENT, CIRRUS, NCR, and COMPAQ, are supported. You can almost always run X on a

monochrome VGA card.</P>

<P>As far as mice go, Linux supports both serial and bus varieties. For the serial

mice, you can use Logitech, Microsoft, MouseSystems, or compatibles. For bus mice,

Logitech, Microsoft, ATI_XL, and PS/2 are known to work.



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<A NAME="Heading23<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>NOTE: </B></FONT>If you are unsure

	whether you have a bus mouse, check to see whether your mouse card has a selection

	for a sample rate switchable between 30Hz and 60Hz (or possibly 25/50Hz). If it does

	not, it's not a true bus mouse. Check the <TT>HOWTO</TT> for XFree86 for details

	on mice.

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<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading24<FONT COLOR="#000077">Before You Get Started</FONT></H3>

<P>Assuming that you have hardware that's compatible with Linux, obtaining and installing

the system is not difficult. But be prepared to be a bit frustrated if you are new

to UNIX or Linux.</P>

<P>These are the two best defenses against frustration with using Linux:



<UL>

	<LI>Get organized.

	<P>

	<LI>Educate yourself about Linux and UNIX.

</UL>





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<A NAME="Heading25<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>TIP: </B></FONT>Experience with

	my bad memory has forced me to keep an indexed log of all the bugs, quirks, and symptoms

	in Linux. I have a dog-eared notebook of all the weird features of Linux. As you

	work with Linux, you might want to keep a personal log of your misadventures with

	it.

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<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading26<FONT COLOR="#000077">The CD-ROM</FONT></H3>

<P>The CD-ROM enclosed in this book has lots of useful documentation. Unfortunately,

this is the classic chicken-and-egg problem. You need the documentation to install

the Linux software, but you have to access the CD-ROM to get more information about

how to install the software! The good part is that almost all the documentation on

the CD-ROM at the back of this book is in plain text.</P>

<P>Right now, in this chapter, it's much too early to worry about reading the contents

of the CD-ROM. The next two chapters will step you through the installation process.

So don't worry if you do not yet know how to look for this documentation.



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<A NAME="Heading27<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>NOTE:</B> </FONT>If you are eager

	to get this information, you can borrow a DOS machine or UNIX workstation and look

	at the <TT>/doc</TT> directories from the root of the CD-ROM.

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<A NAME="Heading28<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>TIP: </B></FONT>You can look at

	all the files and directories on the CD-ROM from an MS-DOS, UNIX, or Microsoft Windows

	machine.

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<P>In Chapter 2 we will cover some of the files you can look at in the CD-ROM after

you have installed Linux. You can skip ahead to that chapter to see how to read the

CD-ROM directory tree for the documentation.



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<A NAME="Heading29<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>NOTE: </B></FONT>See Chapter 15,

	&quot;Using the Linux Documentation,&quot; to find out where to get more information

	about Linux.

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<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading30<FONT COLOR="#000077">Summary</FONT></H3>

<P>There you have it, a brief introduction to an operating system that could very

well change the way you program. Now, it's time to get yourself ready for Linux.</P>

<P>In this chapter, you learned about Linux and some of its more prominent features.

Here's a recap:



<UL>

	<LI>UNIX is a trademark. Linux is not a trademark and has no connection to trademark

	UNIX.

	<P>

	<LI>Linux is designed to run on Intel 80386, 80486, and Pentium computers. Linux

	supports the 387 math coprocessor chip.

	<P>

	<LI>Linux is also being ported to other machine architectures, such as the PowerPC,

	DEC Alpha, and Macintosh.

	<P>

	<LI>Linux has most of UNIX's features and applications built into it. These features

	include a Virtual File System (VFS), networking, multitasking, and multiuser capabilities,

	along with a host of applications such as XFree86, <TT>TeX</TT>, and the GNU utilities.

	<P>

	<LI>You will learn a lot about operating systems when working with Linux.

	<P>

	<LI>Linux is copyrighted under the GNU copyleft agreement. (See Appendix E.)

	<P>

	<LI>The hardware requirements for Linux include at least an 80386 (or better still,

	80486) processor, about 100MB to 120MB of disk space, 4MB of RAM, and a 3'-inch high-density

	floppy drive.

	<P>

	<LI>The more memory you have, most likely the faster Linux will run.

	<P>

	<LI>The swap space on Linux is an area on the disk used by Linux as a scratch area

	when lots of processes are being used.

	<P>

	<LI>You need at least 8MB of RAM to get X Window Systems to run with an acceptable

	degree of performance.

	<P>

	<LI>You need to educate yourself a little on Linux and UNIX before you start the

	installation procedure. This is especially important if you are new to UNIX.

	<P>

	<LI>You can find help on topics in Linux in several places: the Linux Documentation

	Project, FAQs, <TT>INFO-SHEETS</TT>, and the files on the CD-ROM itself.

	<P>

	<LI>The <TT>Hardware-HOWTO</TT> document contains a lot of information about all

	the devices supported by Linux.

	<P>

	<LI>It's best to check the Linux Hardware Compatibility List on the CD-ROM before

	starting your installation process or buying anything for your PC.

</UL>











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